Man gets 60-year sentence in murder try

A Sacramento gang member was sentenced Friday to more than 60 years in prison for attempted murder in a September 2013 shooting prompted by the color of another man’s hat.

Jason Marez, 28, was found guilty in January of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, being a felon in possession of a weapon and committing crimes on behalf of the Norteño street gang in the Sept. 15, 2013, incident.

Marez, driving a red Dodge Neon, pulled up next to Seth Brown’s sedan around 7 p.m. at the intersection of Norwood and Jessie avenues. Brown’s then 14-year-old daughter also was in the vehicle, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Marez – a confirmed member of the Northern California-based Norteño gang, which wears the color red – noticed that Brown was wearing a blue cap. Marez mistook Brown for a member of a rival Southern California gang, the Sureños, whose members sport the color blue, according to Sacramento County District Attorney Satnam Rattu.

Because Marez was previously convicted of first-degree burglary with a firearm in 2006 and has a history of gang-related criminal activity, he faces a lengthy sentence of 60 years and 8 months in prison, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.